Following their loss to Minnesota in game one Thursday night, Sparks players had different takes on what went wrong:
Candace Parker was irritated by her team’s indecisive pick-and-roll defense and lack of overall fight. DeLisha Milton-Jones saw a deficient sense of urgency. Alana Beard thought the Sparks didn’t defend or rebound well enough to get their all-important transition game going. Kristi Toliver felt the Sparks started the game back on their heels, and never recovered.
Whatever the case, it’s do or die tomorrow for LA.
Some think home court advantage will be big for the Sparks. They play at 12:30 p.m. Pacific time.
I have it on extremely good authority that the Sparks will be very ready to go tomorrow.
And there will be some WNBA awards given prior to the game. I’ll be there and will keep you updated: twitter.com/hoopism.